I.T. Movie Reaction

I.T. is a 2016 thriller film starring Pierce Brosnan, James Frecheville, Anna Friel, and Stefanie Scott. Brosnan is Mike Regan, a self-made aviation millionaire planning to expand his empire by launching an Uber-style app for private jets. Regan seems to have it all, a dutiful wife (Anna Friel), a beautiful teenage daughter (Stefanie Scott) and a modern state-of-the-art smart home with all mod cons. However, things start to go terribly wrong when the firm’s I.T guy Ed Porter (James Frecheville) is brought in by Regan to the family home to help with some tech issues.

When Porter takes this as an opportunity to worm his way into his boss’s life, tempers start to fray resulting in Porter being fired from his job. Feeling dejected and snubbed, Porter takes it upon himself to destroy his boss’s reputation and everything he worked so hard for by using his vast I.T knowledge. Cornered and unable to second-guess Porter’s motivations, Regan takes things onto his own hands by playing his former employee at his own game.

For Mike Regan (Pierce Brosnan), he has reached it with the help of the top of the line technology. doing everything for him making him one of the best in his game, but that all has changed when he met Ed Porter, an I.T. consultant for his own company.

In a world where technology runs freely, a private man cannot hide himself even if he wants to. In sake of saving his life,his family & everything he owns, he needs to play the game in all of he can to remove the psychotic I.T. consultant he himself first wrongly welcomed.

The film presents another unrealistic situation with regards to IT practitioners. While the film deals with a very real and compelling issue such as privacy, the way it was done was just a tad unrealistic and more tailored for a movie plot. Of course, this is just nit-picking but it would’ve been better if they dwelved more on the technical aspects of smart homes, hacking, and privacy of such devices. Instead, they just put a regular hacker-looking, creepy guy that just types on a computer and somehow does something what a hacker would take a long time doing. This also reinforces the stereotype that IT practitioners are creepy, stalker dudes with no social life, and can hack into things with ease.

It's a fun premise even if there are so many logic flaws and inconsistencies, that if it were a drinking game to take a swig after finding one, you'd be face-down drunk by the very predictable third act.

Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012

The Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, officially recorded as Republic Act No. 10175, is a law that aims to address legal issues concerning online interactions and the Internet in the Philippines. Among the cybercrime offenses included in the bill are cybersquatting, cybersex, child pornography, identity theft, illegal access to data and libel.

One of the salient features of the act is it’s definition of certain cybercrimes which is internationally consistent in Section 4 of the act. Basically, Section 4 defines the offenses against the confidentiality, integrity and availability of computer data and systems, computer-related offenses, and content-related offenses.

The following are the offenses and their penalties:

1. Illegal Access  
2. Illegal Interception
3. Data Interference
4. System Interference
5. Misuse of Devices
6. Cyber-squatting
7. Computer-related Forgery
8. Computer-related
9. Computer-related Identity Theft
10. Cybersex
11. Child Pornography
12. Unsolicited Commercial
13. Libel

Relate a provision of the law to a past experience as an IT student

I can relate almost all provisions of the law to my life as an IT student because all IT professionals are at risk of commiting offenses listed in this law. The law, covers even the most basic of the offenses that can be done online, which means that an uninformed IT student like me may be able to commit one of those and face the consequences.

The most common violation an IT student like me may commit is online libel. While it is still under debate if it is constitutional or not, libel is a very light offense with a heavy punishment under the 

Cybercrime Prevention Act.

Why is the act controversial?

The act is controversial mainly because of the provision punishing people who commit online libel and other provisions that impede with everybody’s right to freedom of speech.

Libel is defined as a published false statement that is damaging to a person's reputation; a written defamation. The Cybercrime Prevention Act punishes people who commit libel online. The main concern is this provision impedes people's right to freedom of speech. Why? Because the line separating libel and opinion is very thin. People who are just expressing their opinions may be charged with libel.

What should be done for it to become less controversial?\

What needs to be done is to amend the provisions about libel. In that way, everyone will be guaranteed free speech online unless it's a hate crime (or other forms of speech) that is punishable by other laws in the country.

The E-commerce Law of the Philippines

Republic Act 8792, also known as the Electronic Commerce Act of 2000, was enacted by the congress with aims of facilitating domestic and international dealings, transactions, arrangements, agreements, contracts and exchanges and storage of information through the utilization of electronic, optical and similar medium, mode, instrumentality and technology to recognize the authenticity and reliability of electronic documents related to such activities and to promote the universal use of electronic transaction in the government and general public.

Following the spread of a computer virus created by a Filipino, the law is critical to the country’s development in the field of IT. The goals of the act are: provide a secure legal framework and environment for electronic commerce, and protect the integrity of electronic documents and electronic signatures as well as its transmission and communication so as to build and ensure the trust and reliance of the public on electronic transactions.

Some of its salient features compiled by digitalfilipino.com are:

1. Sections 3 through 13 gives legal recognition to electronic data messages, electronic documents, and electronic signatures.         
2. Allows the formation of contracts in electronic form. Through this act, electronic contracts are now valid.
3. Makes banking transactions done through ATM switching networks absolute once consummated.
4. Parties are given the right to choose the type and level of security methods that suit their needs.
5. Provides the mandate for the electronic implementation of transport documents to facilitate carriage of goods. This includes documents such as, but not limited to, multi-modal, airport, road, rail, inland waterway, courier, post receipts, transport documents issued by freight forwarders, marine/ocean bill of lading, non-negotiable seaway bill, and charter party bill of lading.
6. Mandates the government to have the capability to do e-commerce within 2 years or before June 19, 2002.
7. Mandates RPWeb to be implemented. RPWeb is a strategy that intends to connect all government offices to the Internet and provide universal access to the general public. The Department of Transportation and Communications, National Telecommunications Commission, and National Computer Center will come up with policies and rules that shall lead to substantial reduction of costs of telecommunication and Internet facilities to ensure the implementation of RPWeb.
8. Made cable, broadcast, and wireless physical infrastructure within the activity of telecommunications.
9. Empowers the Department of Trade and Industry to supervise the development of e-commerce in the country. It can also come up with policies and regulations, when needed, to facilitate the growth of e-commerce.
10. Provided guidelines as to when a service provider can be liable.
11. Authorities and parties with the legal right can only gain access to electronic documents, electronic data messages, and electronic signatures. For confidentiality purposes, it shall not share or convey to any other person.
12. Hacking or cracking, refers to unauthorized access including the introduction of computer viruses, is punishable by a fine from 100 thousand to maximum commensurating to the damage. With imprisonment from 6 months to 3 years.
13. Piracy through the use of telecommunication networks, such as the Internet, that infringes intellectual property rights is punishable. The penalties are the same as hacking.
14. All existing laws such as the Consumer Act of the Philippines also applies to e-commerce transactions.

 Why was this law enacted?

Relate a provision of the law to a past experience as an IT student

The provision penalizing people who violate the Consumer Act or Republic Act No. 7394 and other relevant or pertinent laws through transactions covered by or using electronic data messages or electronic documents, shall be penalized with the same penalties as provided in those laws.

I can relate to this provision of the law because majority of transactions happening today are happening electronically or online. I have known people who have been scammed online and are doing nothing because they don’t know that a law exists to help them in their troubles.

Minor Field Trip

University of Southeastern Philippines

Bo. Obrero, Davao City

Minor Seminar

January 23, 2016

Seminar Overview

            As partial fulfillment for the requirements of the course Field Trips and Seminars, third year students from the University of Southeastern Philippines Institute Of Computing, including me, must conduct a major and a minor field trip. The major field trip already took place on September 2015 while the minor field trip took place on January 23 of this year.

            Instead of having a field trip, the officers have opted to have a seminar instead. The seminar took place on the University Social Hall. It was called the Graphics Design and Web Development Seminar with Hackathon and Startup Pitching Competition. It is a whole day activity slated to begin at 8:00 am and end at 5:00 pm. The Graphics Design and Web Development seminar took place in the morning. Three speakers were invited to talk about a range of topics concerning graphics design and web development. On the afternoon of the same day, the Hackathon and the Startup Pitching took place.

First Speaker

            The first speaker to share something to us was Mr. Ralph Gideon. He is a BS Information Technology graduate whose alma mater is our very own university. He is currently teaching arts at Ateneo de Davao University. He used to work as a programmer but then decided to pursue his passion, which is to design. His talk was all about the fundamentals of designing.

            The first topic he discussed to us are the seven elements of design or visual arts: line, shapes, forms, color, value, texture, and space. These elements are already familiar to us because these are very basic concepts arts. He then proceeded to the next part of his discussion, the six principles of design.

            There are six principles of design but he only discussed five of them. The priciples are also basic concepts in arts but what makes his discussion about the topic unique is that he related it to graphics and web design, which is very important and interesting to people in the field of IT. He showed examples for each of the principles.

The following are the five principles of design the speaker discussed:

1.      Balance, the concept of arranging art elements so no part overpowers or would seem heavier than any other parts. It has three types: symmetric, asymmetric and radial.

2.      Rhythm/ Movement, which is achieved when recurring position, size, color, and use of a graphic element has a focal point interruption. It also has three types: one-beat, alternating and progressive.

3.      Emphasis, the concept of creating a “special area” or a focal point. Emphasis is very important in graphics design as emphasis usually determine what element of the design is more important than the others.

4.      Proportion, the concept of using the relative size of elements against each other can attract attention to a focal point.

5.      Unity. Visual unity is the main goal of a graphics design.­­­­

            He also talked about the difference of an artist and a designer. We have learned from him that designers usually do work with limited resources or constraints, unlike artists.

What I liked?

            What I liked about the first speaker is he gave us information about the fundamentals of design. It was really helpful for us because he also related those information to real life scenarios. I also liked that he communicated with us, the audience, during his talk.

What I didn’t like?

            What I didn’t like about the first speaker is that even though his topics were informative, we felt that it was unnecessary because all of those were already discussed in our arts classes.

Second Speaker

            The second speaker to share something to us was Ms. Shannen Shapar. She studied BS in Information Technology at the University of Immaculate Conception but was not able to graduate because of some undisclosed reasons. But that didn’t stop her. She was able to get a job as a front-end developer in Ingenuity Global Consulting. I find her story relatable because like me, she didn’t really know what career path she is going to follow. She just took the job at Ingenuity Global Consulting because she needed it. Nevertheless, she became adept at it and grew to love it over time.

            The main discussion point she talked about is front-end developing. Front-end is the “presentation layer” we see in websites and applications. It is where we see the user interface. Back-end on the other hand is the “data access layer or server layer.” It is important to develop a good front-end because users usually judge a website or an app based on its looks, rather than its functionalities.

            Other topics she discussed are topics related to web design and front end development. One of the topics she emphasized on her presentation is the importance of HTML5 boilerplates. HTML5 boilerplates helps us build fast, robust, and adaptable web apps or sites. An example of an HTML5 boilerplate is Bootstrap. It is a free and open source frond-end framework. It has a large collection of tools for creating websites and web applications. She also discussed about the importance of CSS preprocessors. CSS preprocessors, according to vanseodesign.com, are a way to add functionality on CSS mainly on the form of abstraction.

            The speaker presented two examples of CSS preprocessors, the SASS and the LESS. These preprocessors provide functions that are currently not available in CSS.

Examples of these functions are:

1.      Variables. CSS preprocessors allow variable manipulation.

2.      Interpolation. Developers using CSS preprocessors aren’t constrained by the limited                   values of CSS properties.

3.      Operations. CSS preprocessors support operations.

4.      Mixins. A CSS Preprocessor function that allows reuse of block of codes.

5.      Nesting. Nested formatting is allowed when using CSS preprocessors.

            The speaker also discussed about the two popular workflow management tools, the Gulp and the Grunt. These tools are just here to help developers achieve maximum efficiency. After that, she ended her talk by giving us tips on how to be a good front-end developer.

1. The tips to be good front-end developers, according to Ms. Shannen Shapar:
2. Collaborate with content creators and back-end developers
3. Interpret designs into a workable code
4. Combine the works of designers and back-end developers, break design into components and write a code for each
5. Test a website’s look and functionalities using different browsers and devices
6.  Research design and code trends to keep website on cutting edge

What I liked?

            What I also liked about the second speaker is the fact that she was very relatable. She was not able to graduate but she became very successful. She is an inspiration not only to me but to others as well.

What I didn’t like?

            What I didn’t like about the second speaker is her way of presentation. She would talk about her topic and then she would stop because she would either talk about herself or ask her colleagues to do the explaining for her. Unlike the first speaker, she was not communicating with the audience.

Third Speaker

            The third and final speaker to talk in front of us was Mr. Nikko Comidoy. He is also a BS Information Technology graduate from our university. Mr. Comidoy was not originally slated to speak in front of us but due to some reasons, he was told to do so. Because of that, he talked about Technopreneurship instead of topics relating to graphic design and web development. He also talked about his life on the Institute of Computing and an application they made, the Doc Banana, helped shaped his career. His talks were very inspiring and interesting but I did not really feel its significance to me because we do not have the subject Technopreneurship. After his talk, we had a luch break.

What I liked?

            What I liked about the third speaker is the fact he was from our very own university. I also liked that he told us his own experiences to inspire us to work harder. His talk about the apps he co-developed were also very interesting and informative.

What I didn’t like?

            What I didn’t like about the third speaker is that he was not prepared to do his speech. His topics were quite irrelevant to the theme of the seminar. He also didn’t have any visual aids.

Hackathon and Startup Pitching Competetion

            In the afternoon of the same day, the Hackathon and the Startup Pitching Competition happened. The pitching competition was for the IT students taking the course Technopreneurship 1. They were divided into five groups, with a judge/mentor for each group. Each individual was slated to pitch his idea or product to the judge/mentor. After that, the top two of each group were to pitch in front of the audience. The competition was fun and we got to see the ingenuity and innovation in the ideas of the participants. In the end, the app “iTravel Safe” won first place.

            While the pitching competition was ongoing, groups of students were competing against each other in a programming contest commonly referred to as “Hackathon.” Each group was given seven machine problems to be solved within a span of three hours. Everybody gave it their best shot but the group of Dapal and company won the event.

What I liked?

            What I liked about the second part of the seminar is that I had the chance to listen and scrutinize the ideas pitched by the IT students. Hearing their ideas were fun and informative at the same time.

What I didn’t like?

            What I didn’t like about the second part of the seminar is that many of us had nothing to do. Many wanted to join the hackathon but were unable to because we were not informed that we should’ve brought laptops during that event. Because of that, many of us were left to dillydally instead of doing anything productive.

                                    

APPENDIX

Recommendation

            I recommend that the minor field trip be taken on time to avoid delays in the future. It would also be better if the pool of speakers to speak in the seminar would come from different companies and fields of IT for a better look of how IT in the real world really works.

My advice to those who will take their advance seminar program in the near future.

            I would advice that the students that would take this kind of seminar in the future is that they should listen attentively to the speakers of this event because the things that they will say would be very important to them when they go out in the real world.

Pictures

Picture 1 The first speaker, Mr. Gideon, talking discussing the principles of design. Photo not mine.

Picture 2 The second speaker, Ms. Shapar, talking about front-end development. Photo not mine.

Picture 3 The third speaker, Mr. Comidoy. Photo not mine.

Picture 4 The programming event "Hackathon". Photo no mine.

Picture 5 Pitching competition. Phot not mine.

Trip to Manila (FTS Major Field Trip)

University of Southeastern Philippines

Bo. Obrero, Davao City

TRAVEL REPORT

September 7 – 11, 2015

Seminar Overview

As partial fulfillment for the requirements of the course Field Trips and Seminars, 81 students from the University of Southeastern Philippines Institute Of Computing, including me, embarked on a trip to Manila and its neighboring environs.

We left Davao City via Davao International Airport on 7^th September 2015 at about 5:45 in the morning. Our flight was Cebu Pacific 5J 962. We arrived at the Ninoy Aquino Intenational Airport at about 7:30 in the morning. We left the airport a few minutes later.

We were picked by two buses courtesy of Maynilad Tours and Educational Services, the travel agency we contracted. Our first destination was McDonald’s Newport. We ate out breakfast there.  We then headed to the national office of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). We ate lunch at Kenny Roger’s East Avenue. After that, we proceeded to the head office of Social Security System (SSS). After our seminar there, we ate dinner at Tramway Buffet at Timog Avenue, Quezon City. After that we headed back to the hotel (Kabayan Hotel).

8^th of September 2015, we started our day by eating breakfast at our hotel. After that, we proceeded to PLDT InnoLab at Mandaluyong City Philippines. We then ate lunch at the bus. After that, we headed to IBM Philippines. After our visit there, we had our dinner at Great Eastern Hotel, Makati. Then we headed back to the hotel and had some rest.

We attended the Y4IT convention on the 9^th of September 2015. The Y4IT convention is believed to be the largest gathering of IT students, professionals, and enthusiasts. We started the day by eating our breakfast at the hotel. We had a brief tour of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) complex before heading to the SMX Convention Center. Upon arriving there, we registered for the event. We spent half of the day listening to the speakers and visiting the booths inside the convention center. We ate lunch at Taste Asia at SM Mall of Asia. After eating our lunch, we went back to SMX. After the convention, we headed to Tutuban Mall. We shopped there for a while and ate our dinner there as well. After that, we headed back to the hotel.

10^th of September 2015 marked the 4^th day of our field trip in Manila. We started the day by eating our breakfasts to the hotel.  After that, we headed to the MMDA Metrobase at Makati City. We spent half of the day there and then proceeded to Tagaytay City to eat out lunch. We had a brief moment to experience the beauty of the Taal Volcano. After that, we went to the Enchanted Kingdom at Sta. Rosa, Laguna. After days of constant stress, having that small leisure time was heavenly. After that, we headed back to our hotel to eat dinner and have some rest.

The last day of the trip was the 11^th of September 2015. We all woke up early to prepare our thing for our departure for Davao City later. After that, we ate breakfast at the hotel and then proceeded to UP Diliman’s Department of Computer Science. We toured their building and they showed us some of their equipment. After the tour, we headed to Icon Hotel to eat our lunch. We then went to Resorts World Manila for one last leisure time. After that, we headed to the airport and waited for our flight. Our flight was supposed to leave the airport at 9:00 pm but it was delayed.

Day 1

Today, I went on a seminar to the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) main office at the DOST compound, Bicutan, Taguig and the Social Security System (SSS) main office at East Avenue, Quezon City.

What I learned?

It was my first time to visit a government office here in the national capital region. I had high expectations and somehow, my visit to both offices met those expectations. When we arrived at DOST, we were lead to the Information and Communications Technology Office. We were welcomed by their staff and so began the seminar. The speaker wanted to speak about E-commerce here in the Philippines but he spoke about Project NOAH instead. He started by asking us the difference between a calamity and a disaster. He said that a calamity is something that can cause harm and suffering while a disaster is something that caused destruction. He then introduced Project NOAH to us. Project NOAH (Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards) is the DOST’s response to the call of President Benigno S. Aquino III for a more accurate, integrated, and responsive disaster prevention and mitigation system, especially in high-risk areas throughout the Philippines. According to the speaker, Pres. Aquino got tired of hearing about numerous casualties every time the country experiences a disaster so he tasked DOST to create something that would improve the countries risk reduction capabilities.

Currently, Project NOAH has eight components namely:

·         Distribution of Hydrometeorological Devices in hard-hit areas in the Philippines

·         Disaster Risk Exposure Assessment for Mitigation – Light Detection and Ranging (DREAM-LIDAR) Project

·         Enhancing Geohazards Mapping through LIDAR

·         Coastal Hazards and Storm Surge Assessment and Mitigation (CHASSAM)

·         Flood Information Network (FloodNET) Project

·         Local Development of Doppler Radar Systems

·         Landslide Sensors Development Project, and

·         Weather Hazard Information Project (WHIP)

DOST, in partnership with different government agencies, uses these projects to help Filipinos prepare for upcoming calamities and disasters.

After the seminar at DOST, we headed to the SSS main office. The lecture was divided into two parts. During the first part, the speaker discussed about the history and duties of the agency, and the benefits of being an SSS member. During this part of the lectures, we received some tips that would help us when we become professionals someday.  During the second part, the speaker discussed about the history of the agency’s ICT division. Unlike the in the first part, we learned about things that are IT related during this part.

What I liked?

There were a lot of things I liked about the seminars that happened that day. One of it was the fact that both government agencies made an effort in preparing for our visit. They also gave us some publications after the seminars. Another is both discussed some very important topics that are related to our field of study. I also liked it when we found out that the speaker that would discuss about Project NOAH was from Mindanao. Knowing that he is a Mindanaoan made it easier for us to communicate with him.

What I didn’t like?

I really liked the first day of our trip and for me, there was nothing unlikeable about it. There were some things that isn’t really good like when SSS gave us a publication about their 2013 annual report instead of the latest one but I did not really care about it. Al least I had something to read while on the bus.

DAY 2

Today, I went on a seminar to PLDT InnoLab at Mandaluyong City and IBM Philippines at the UP-Ayala Techno-Hub, Quezon City.

What I learned?

I learned a lot of things on this day. While we were on PLDT InnoLab, we were welcomed by one of PLDT’s official. She told us the basic things that we need to know about the PLDT InnoLab. Its main purpose is to hatch new ideas and innovate existing ones for the benefit of the people. It has four main functions: Engineering, Product and Development, Sales, and Market. After discussing about it, we had a tour of the place. We even went to their “control center” where they monitor the network flow and network conditions of the areas they serve. They also tackled about their latest offerings like the new PLDT Fibr and FamCam.

 After touring PLDT InnoLab, we ate lunch and proceeded to IBM Philippines. We were welcomed by Dr. Pantola. He discussed a lot of interesting things. First, he introduced us to cloud computing.

According to Dr. Pantola, cloud computing has three services namely:

·         Software as a Service (SaaS),

·         Platform as a Service (PaaS), and

·         Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS)

The difference between the three is what they provide to us. In Software as a service, you don’t have to purchase, install and maintain a software. Software service providers do it for you. An example of SaaS is Google Docs. Platform as a service provides your needs in developing applications in the cloud. According to the IBM website, in infrastructure as a Service, you rent a cloud infrastructure – servers, storage, and networking – on demand, on a pay-as-you-go model. It’s basically like having a virtual machine.

What I liked?

A lot of interesting things happened this day. From our planned tour at PLDT InnoLab the lecture at IBM Philippines, almost everything was good. What I really liked about it was the fact that both companies taught us a lot of new things that are not only related to our field, but are also very important to our future in our studies. Both companies also discussed very important points that helps keep us informed with the latest technologies present today.

What I didn’t like?

If there was one thing I didn’t like about our seminars on this day, it would be the responses of the person touring us at PLDT. She was a good speaker but there was this time that we asked her about the state of the internet here in the Philippines. Instead of discussing the real problems of the internet here in the country, she just said to us that we should pay more if we want faster internet speeds.  I thought her answer was very disappointing. She literally endorsed expensive PLDT products instead of answering our questions directly. Other than that, I really liked the activities that happened on this day.

DAY 3

On September 9, 2015, we spent our whole day at SMX Convention Center attending the Youth for Information Technology convention. In is said to be the largest gathering of IT students, professionals and enthusiasts in the country.

What I learned?

Attending the Y4IT convention has taught me a lot of things. It showed me how amazing technology has developed these days. I was very impressed when person talking for Microsoft introduced the Microsoft HoloLens to the audience.

Another thing that really caught my attention was the discussion about Internet Neutrality. Net neutrality, as defined by the Oxford Dictionary, is “the principle that internet service providers should enable access to all content and application regardless of the source, and without favoring or blocking particular products or websites.” Mr. Al Alegre, the speaker who discussed this topic, made it very clear to us that internet neutrality is not evident here in our country.  Philippine internet service providers do not practice internet neutrality by providing zero-rated services. An example of this is Smart’s Safezone. Safezone is an app that lets you browse some sites like Facebook for free. It may be a good thing to others but we must bear in mind that there is more to internet than Facebook. Safezone only offers them (the limited number of sites) for free because they are in partnership with the companies that owns such websites. It makes it difficult for other applications or websites to offer their services knowing that some ISPs favor other apps more than theirs. ISPs could also abuse their position by providing better services for contents from their sister companies (for example, Smart’s Iflix) while providing mediocre to poor quality of service to their competitor’s.

What I liked?

Attending one of the largest IT gatherings here in country was one of the best things that happened on this trip. I really like the fact that I was able to hear the latest technology news and issues from very good speakers. Other than the seminar, I also enjoyed roaming around SM Mall of Asia. It was not my first time there but it was my first time without relatives accompanying me. It made me feel more responsible about myself.

What I didn’t like?

As much as I enjoyed the Y4IT convention, I still thought that the event could’ve been better. I was a bit underwhelmed by it. It didn’t meet my expectations. I put the fault on myself because I might just have unrealistic expectations.

DAY 4

Today, I went on a seminar to MMDA Traffic Engineering Metrobase. We also went to Tagaytay City and Enchanted Kingdom for some leisure time.

What I learned?

I learned a lot of thing on our visit to MMDA. Their speakers told us things about how engineering and information technology works in their agency. They told us that because of the two, MMDA has been able to control traffic lights, monitor the traffic using censors, and monitor the metro with their high-tech CCTVs. The speakers also told us about how crucial the agency’s job is.

What I liked?

Our visit to MMDA was quite pleasing. I liked the fact that one of the speakers that spoke in front of us was an engineer. Because of that, we were able to ask some technical questions and he was able to respond well. Our visit to their agency was very informative. I also like the fact that they accepted some criticisms that some of us threw to them. They said that they accept everything that could help better their services.

Apart from the seminar, what I really like about this day is that we get to spend time to have fun. Our trip to Tagaytay City was stress relieving, given that we've been stresses the day that we arrived at Manila. Our trip to Enchanted Kingdom was an escape for us. We didn't think about anything that could stress us out. We just had fun. Very good memories were made in this day.

What I didn’t like?

I liked the events on this day very much. Nothing unlikeable happened. For me, the 4^th day of our trip to Manila was the best day on this trip.

DAY 5

Today, I went on a seminar to the UP Diliman Department of Computer Science.

What I learned?

I learned a thing or two on my visit to UP CS department. Their department focuses on these seven expertise of computer science:

1.      Algorithms and Complexity

2.      Computer Security

3.      Computer Vision and Machine Intelligence

4.      Networks and Distributed Systems

5.      Scientific Computing

6.      Service Science and Software Engineering

7.      Web Science.

The speakers (and some students) also discussed the ideas of some of their theses like the theoretical part of computer science, enhancement of security enterprise, bioinformatives, computational intelligence, computer networks, database, and software management.

What I liked?

The speakers’ discussion about some their theses has helped some of us think of ideas that we could use when we begin writing our papers. I am also in awe on how well equipped their laboratories are.

What I didn’t like?

Just like the Y4IT convention, I was a bit underwhelmed by our visit to UP Department of Computer Science. I felt like they didn’t prepare for our visit. But again, I put the fault on myself because I think I might just had very high expectations.

APPENDIX

RECOMMENDATION

The field trip wouldn’t have been successful without the officers of this subject. They did their best to give us an amazing FTS experience. The trip in general was successful and fulfilling but there were times where we encountered some problems. These said problems could’ve been avoided if the officers had better coordination with the participants of the trip, the travel agency and their fellow officers. If this kind of things is to be avoided, I highly recommend that the officers of the next FTS batch, while still planning for the trip, must correct what must be corrected and finalize what must be finalized.

My advised top those who will take their advance seminar program in the near future.

The course Field Trips and Seminars is a very important. In the course of our field trip, we were exposed to life outside of the classroom. We have learned a lot. For those who may be reluctant in taking this course because of the cost, I assure you that you’ll get what you pay for.

PICTURES

Day 1

My friends and I at Davao International Airport

The whole class at Davao International Airport.

The whole class at DOST, Bicutan, Taguig City.

The whole class attending a seminar at SSS Main Office.

DETOUR - A visit to the famous Big Brother House.

DAY 2

(Half of) The class at PLDT InnoLab, Mandaluyong City.

LAUGHS - Having fun at PLDT InnoLab

LIKE A BOSS - at PLDT InnoLab board room.

My frinds and I at IBM Philippines.

At IBM Philippines with one of our advisers, Engr. Ariel Pabilona.

DAY 3

DETOUR - A visit to Luneta Park

Groufie with the Philippine flag.

Waiting for the bus to arrive outside SMX Convention Center.

DAY 4

The class listening to the speaker at MMDA Metrobase.

Group shot at MMDA Metrobase.

CHILL - My friends and I chilling at Tagaytay City.

Enchanted kingdom!

DAY 5

The class at UP Diliman.

UP Diliman Department of Computer Science